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Category: Felting Around the Web

Magazines

Magazines

The Other Ann had posted about a challenge in a magazine she gets. Inspiration Magazine. https://www.inspirationsstudios.com/product/inspirations-issue-116/ it’s a needlework magazine. It looks really cool. So, I thought it might be an idea to ask people what magazines they read for knowledge and inspiration. Everyone seems to really love the Christmas beetle brooch. So I thought I would edit in the price for the kit, $129.00.  I am assuming that is Australian dollars.

I read Filz fu4n. the guild subscribes and there is an English supplement available. https://www.filzfun.de/magazin/en/

Wild Fibres is another interesting one. Lots of interesting articles and pictures.  https://www.wildfibersmagazine.com/

I look through Ply https://plymagazine.com/ and Spin-Off https://spinoffmagazine.com/ magazines at the Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild too. They don’t do felting but I spin and there are lots of colour inspirations.

     

 

I would love to see Felt Matters but can’t bring myself to pay $65 for a digital and $81 for a printed ( 4 per year) magazine.

I like to leaf through unrelated magazines too when I see them. art quilt magazines are inspiring. They are good at showing you how to break down and simplify a picture. Nature magazines of course are great for inspiration. I have an old National Geographic magazine that talks about wool. It’s packed away but I found a picture

 

So tell us which magazines do you read to learn, and/or get inspired.

Fun on-line, Creating the Under-Mer

Fun on-line, Creating the Under-Mer

With stay at home, I have been on line a lot more than I use to be. I have had fun playing Runescape, listening to music, (this week’s felting was assisted mainly by Blue Oyster Cult), audio books and I have had a lovely time watching videos on felting. I have watched both wet and dry and some that were even in English!  There have been a few free workshops and even some felt-alongs on YouTube.  I have watched hats, scarves and flowers being made. It is exceedingly strange with my aversion to unnecessary wetness that the felt along that got my attention was Sara Renzulli’s (Sarafina Fiber Art) felted Mermaid.  She has done a lot of 3-D sculpture, I particularly like her armature work and her felted horses. She has the felt along mermaid and other felt along projects posted on YouTube if you would like to check it out; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hljS4YRmz9w&list=RDCMUCQOKYjvA0xYeHXAnQCmTlIQ&index=1

By now you likely know me well enough to expect enthusiasm and probably not doing what the instructor was expecting (ether from miss reading the instructions or going off on a tangent). I suspect that too. Her Mer-Exampel is pink so I can see design changes ahead. I had originally intended to behave and adhere to the instructions, except for the pink body of course which was to be our own colour selection.

This being the week before the long weekend and our government here being very kind, has allowed some stores to partly re-open (garden centers and hardware stores were the two I needed to visit). So, at 6:30am, armed with gloves and one of my clinic masks, I was off on my quest for the side yard plants and 14 gauge aluminum wire. Wire first at Home Depot since they opened at 6am.  I found steel wire at 14 gauge and a few lighter steel ones but no aluminum… Oh well, maybe I will do better with flowers? Sort of,  I found most of the herb and some very short cherry tomatoes. Well since I’m out and across the street from the Dollarama, I should stop in there for a big shallow bucket to put the plants in until I can plant them out next weekend (I will use it as a plant saucer once I have the plants planted). Why look! Dollarama has aluminum wire the same diameter as the 14 gauge steel. I should have just gone here first! I picked up black and silver. (This could be a very sinister Mer-Person in that colour scheme.)

1 1 the hall of wire acquisition

I had wanted to make a Mer-Man, which just sounded much more fun but also wanted to understand the process before I messed with it too much.  Thus Mer-Woman it was and I followed along with the correct proportions but used the 20 gauge floral wire instead of the lighter aluminum wire I couldn’t find.

 

2 2 Mer-Woman

By this point, I was having quite a bit of fun and wanted to make a Mer-Man too.  So I upped the proportions making him 2 heads taller than the first.  I also added a sternoclavicular section so I didn’t wind the wires more than twice at the shoulders.  I used 20 gauge for everything but the hands since I found the tail wires a bit floppy in the Mer-Woman and wanted stronger in the Mer-Man. We will see if I overcompensated!

 

3

3 Mer-Woman and handsome Mer-Man

I was still having fun and started thinking about my niece who is a competitive swimmer, so on to Mer-teen, (pre-growth spurt) at least a head shorter than a Mer-woman. So subtracting 2 to 2.75 inches should work. Success I have a Mer-Family!

4 4 Mer-Man, Mer-Woman and Mer-teen

 

Now that I have 3 skeletal fish people it had better get stated on adding a bit of flesh to their bones!

I was being good and followed Sara’s instructions. She seems to work in a more additive way, like sculpting with clay. Make a shape and add it. While my inclination is to block in basic shapes then refine them by subtractive sculpting (lots of poking); adding in sections of wool then felting till it’s the required shape and reasonably firm. The way I have been leaning towards is a lot slower but I have good control over the felting. I wanted to try her method so I wrapped the wire then added the filler piece. i used parts of an alpaca batt from Ann, in blends and layers of light creams, browns and reddish browns. Not having the correct tool to do Sara’s rapping technique, I substituted one of my stick shuttles for weaving. It worked reasonably well.  I do like the idea of having a gradation of sizes that can be used to make a shape. This makes the shape size repeatable.

5        5 Creative use of a stick shuttle

I inserted the carrot shape into the leg space which created the filler for the tail.  Then I got engrossed in adding quads, creating an illiac crest at the hips.

 6-7 Filling the tail

As I started adding the body, arms and head, I got distracted…..(no photos sorry!) I had a blast adding latts, anterior delts and the serratus ant.  You can see cute little clavicles but I didn’t add more than a suggestion there might be a manubrium! I even had a sternum that was more visible before she acquired breasts. (I felt very guilty sculpting them, that needle did look vary sharp!) I got busy sculpting and firming up the fin section and discovered I liked the suggestion that there were knees in that tail, and the hint of the remains of legs within her tail.

8 8 Discovering (my) fish woman has knees (but no hands yet)

As I started to add the hands I realized I should have had hands on all my felting projects (whether or not they originally had hands). Look, she is self-felting!!

   9-11 Hands can be very useful in a sculpture

Saturday Sara had her wet felted tail section of this project. She showed laying out layers of wool then adding embellishments to it. Then wetting and rolling the tail cover. Her colours looked like they will work grate on her finished Mer-maid.  I particularly like the silk inclusions at the tail, it looks vary beta fish fin-like.

Since I am still having fun sculpting and I don’t have a spot to wet felt set up I am going to finish the under structure and then decide on the top layer to blend over it. I will treat this like a 3-D grisaille underpainting. I will lay washes of colour over top. The mottling reminds me of sand on a creek bottom. Since she does not have any obvious defensive or offensive weaponry (unless she keeps my pen tool), I think she will have to go with camouflage to be safe.

As I watched the instructions about wet felting the tail cover, I kept sculpting and finished out the structure of the tail. I added what in the base of the hand would be the thenar and hypothenar eminences at the base of the tail.  Muscles here would allow it articulation of the membrane between the outside edges of the fin and give more control when moving through the water. I gave her a single gastrocs (calf muscle) but kept the suggestion of two quads (thighs) and the hint of knees.

After the YouTube, instructions were over and I had most of the understructure in hand. I took a short break to plant a few of the plants I had purchased then gathered my camera for her in-progress photo shoot

1213

12-13 a quick touch up before her photo shoot

It had been very overcast when I took the first set of photos. I went inside to check them …. and the sun came out.  I grabbed the camera and my model and off we went to the front garden hopeful the brake in the clouds would last! It was a tiny bit brighter but the lighting was not the raking Caravaggio like light I would have enjoyed.

   14-16 photo shoot for Under-Mer-Woman.

(yes she is naked waving at strangers walking past on the side walk!)

   17-20 Luckily she became distracted and stopped shocking the neighbors

The Mer-Woman seemed most interested in the Daffodils once she stopped touching up the felting on her tail.

 

   21-23 Mer-Woman admiring Lungwort while sitting on rocks beside crashing waves of violets

 

I want to add SCM (Sternocleidomastoid) muscle in the neck and I have still more work to do on the face particularly the eyes but I am very pleased with how she is coming. I will put her aside and do the under structure for the Mer-Man and possibly the Mer-teen before I decide exactly what over layers of colour I will add. It should continue to be fun and He will get a trident I think!

 

I have not forgotten about my Pictish shepherd or the mysterious creature. Thanks to Ann M. and Carlene P. I have fibre to soon get back to them. I do tend to like to sit and think about a project partway through, so I can reassess it (see it through fresh eyes). I may come up with tweak in the design or I may finish it as I had originally intended.

 

I hope you are also enjoying all the tutorials, blogs, and other inspirational felting ideas out on the internet at the moment.   If you are not jumping into a project immediately, then  hopefully putting inspirations in notes or sketches to enjoy doing them later. Have fun inside and now also in your gardens!

24 24 to inspire you one of my fancy daffodils

Around the Web

Around the Web

We hope you’ll enjoy some of these links that we have found. You might have seen some of these artist’s work but it’s always nice to take another look. Enjoy!

Jane Mercer’s Naturally Dyed Felt Picture

Renata Felt Peacock

Felt Sculpture by Anna Gunnarsdottir

Bloomfelt Sculptures

Felted Pleasure by Marina Shkolnik

Janice Arnold’s Bespoke Felt

Shelley Jones Felt Sculpture and Jewelry

Beth Marx Nuno Felt Abstract Design with Prefelts

Felt Sculpture by Stephanie Metz

Combination of Felt and Shibori by Ulrike von Kutzleben-Hausen

Layered Felt by Yukako Sorai

Crocheted Basket from Recycled Plastic Bags by My Recycled Bags

Meredith Woolnough’s Embroidered Traceries

Creating Texture and Pattern from Stitch, an article from Textile Artist

And a little extra in the style of Marketplace Mondays.

Top Ten Tips for Approaching an Art Gallery by The Golden Hare

Out of the box Part 3

Out of the box Part 3

This is the 3rd and final set of pictures from this exhibit. http://mvtm.ca/?exhibition=colour-unboxed   the first is here:  https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2017/01/18/colour-unboxed-by-out-of-the-box/ and the second here: https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2017/01/26/out-of-the-box-part-2/ Again I apologise for some of the odd angles as it was very crowded with people enjoying the exhibit. In the last picture you may find it hard to see but the is a very long weaving draped across  the ceiling.

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Around the Web

Around the Web

I’ve been a bit busy and haven’t had time to create much. So I thought you might enjoy a few things from around the web. Some of these have been created by or pointed out by forum members, so thanks to those of you who pointed me in the right direction!

fibres around the web

Jane Mercer posted about her recent visit to Woolfest 2016.

Fiber arts video from Peru. (in Spanish)

Felting around the web banner

Russian video about laying wool in specific directions. In Russian but drawings are very helpful.

Karen Lane’s new version of Yellow Poppies.

Shibori felting video with Rae Woolnough.

Teri Berry’s new ram hat and illuminated lion fish.

Nada’s nuno felted blouse.

Lyn and Annie’s (RosiePink) recent pineapple challenge and Lyn’s bird.

Pam de Groot’s Text and Texture exhibition pieces.

Vote for Kim Winter’s proposal to turn the bathroom into a grotto covered in felt shells. (She needs 5 stars!)

dyeing around the web

Cathy’s eco-printing in a pomegranate dye pot.

Terriea Kwong’s recent natural printing.

stitching around the web

Catherine Frere-Smith’s embroidered fabric birds.

mixed media around the web

Mary Beth Shaw of StencilGirl Products has been doing live streaming videos of a variety of stencil techniques on Facebook. Just scroll down to check out the different videos.

 

 

Around the Web Spinning Felting and Dyeing

Around the Web Spinning Felting and Dyeing

Good morning Folks I am afraid I am still  tired form the week end at Fibrefest in Almonte so I will give you some interesting things to go  have a look at.

spinning around the web

http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/zebisisdesigns?section_id=5560028

http://www.woolmakers.com/shop-2/

http://rosemaryknits.blogspot.ca/2009/02/pseudo-rolags.html

http://gourmetstash.com/what-are-punis

felting around the web 4

http://feltmakersnorth.blogspot.ca/2014/04/felting-fever.html

http://livingfelt.com/blog/?p=6171

http://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/115335761/glow-in-the-dark-spinning-fiber-blending?ref=shop_home_active

http://www.soulfibrestudio.blogspot.ca/

dyeing around the web

The other link was no longer working so here is a different one that looks good

http://blog.freepeople.com/2014/05/shibori-dyeing-indigo/

 

 

Around the Web

Around the Web

felting around the web 4

http://jill-harrison.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=165390738

http://gifeltro.blogspot.ca/2013/10/unaltra-grande-fatica.html

http://feltingannie.blogspot.ca/2013/09/working-on-felted-landscape.html

stitching around the web

http://anajskreativestagebuch.blogspot.ca/2013/09/filz-fur-tanja.html I had a hard time deciding where to put this it is great felt but the stitching is such a big part of it.

http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.ca/2013/10/prettiness.html

weaving around the web 300

http://www.ingedam.net/gallery.html she does card weaving on her loom as part of a loom woven piece.

mixed media around the web

http://red2white.wordpress.com/2013/10/04/leaf-press/

spinning around the web

http://www.spinartiste.com/can-you-spin-this-suzanne-corriera-says-sure-thing

surface design around the web

http://alisaburke.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-new-line-of-accessories-and-giveaway.html

Around the Web

Around the Web

I have been out of town this past week but I thought you might like to see a few links of fun stuff while I get caught up.
Felting around the web banner

Gala Filc’s Linen Dresses with Flowers

Sandy’s Stitched Felt

Nature Nurture by Pam de Groot

Gala Filc’s Teapot and Cup Purses

buttons around the webGina’s Transfer Dyed Button Hat

stitching around the webJane’s Garden Doodles

Dog Daisy Chains Adventures in Embroidery

mixed media around the webVicki’s Fused Glass

dyeing around the webNatural Dyed Yarn

Around The Web

Around The Web

Here’s a few links we thought you might enjoy.

felting around the web 4

http://kirstenhouseknecht.blogspot.ca/2013/03/nuno-felted-kimono-project.html

Renatos Eyeglass Case

mixed media around the web

This link has some fiber related tutorials but so much more that is interesting. http://www.howtohistory.com/video-tutorials/

Coiled Basketry by Tiger C

http://www.fibermixedmedia.com/

Michelle Mischkulnig’s Fiber Art

Kathleen Vance’s Traveling Landscapes

stitching around the web

http://www.doilyfreezone.com/premysl-knap-4/

Ann Wood’s Bloomer, Bloomer and Bloomer

dyeing around the web

Vicki’s Dyed and Painted Shower Curtain

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